New Hope for Stressed-Out Kids?

After several decades’ worth of what has seemed like an insane level of pressure on children to achieve, achieve, achieve, it looks like the tide might be beginning to turn.

I say this only because in the last few weeks, a number of notices and links have crossed my desk with news about experts in childrens’ health counseling parents and educators to “slow down.”

Childrens Hospital Pittsburgh

Myself, I’ve never understood this constant push to accelerate children to the next level. Preschoolers need to read to get ready for kindergarten? Middle schoolers need to do two hours of homework a day in order to get ready for the UC system? High schoolers need to stay up until 2 AM in order to get ready for college, where they’ll knock themselves out to graduate with a high GPA, so they can get a good job and become stressed-out adults focused only on work and achievement?</p

Way to cultivate happy, well-rounded adults!

But here’s where I’m finding a little hope:

*The SF Chronicle ran a story a week ago on a new documentary about stressed-out teens. Called “Race to Nowhere,” it focuses on kids in the Bay Area.

*This Tuesday night (tomorrow), Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, chair of the psychology department at UC Berkeley and author of The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today’s Pressures will be speaking at the Alameda Free Library (1550 Oak Street), at 6 pm. Hinshaw theorizes that girls these days are under pressure to be pretty and nice (traditional girl stuff); athletic and smart (traditional boy stuff); plus, of course, perfect. He’ll be reading from his book and then fielding questions.

*Yesterday, The New York Times posted this op ed video on the pressure created by AP classes in high school.

*And don’t miss this article from the Daily Telegraph, also last week, which described a study showing that the children of parents who are stressed out actually burn out faster. (Which means — you got it — that if you’re worried about your kid’s stress level, you need to look at your own stress levels, too.)

It’s a shame our culture is pressuring our kids this much at this point — but I’m so glad people are starting to talk about it.